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FIRST DIVISION PLAYOFFS FIRST LEG: Cabinteely 0-0 Longford Town

Sat Oct 5th 2019

Match report by Andrew Dempsey (Full match report on extratime.ie)

Ten-man Cabinteely held firm against Longford Town in the first-leg of their First Division Playoff with a scoreless draw.

Kevin Knight was dismissed late on with a poor challenge on Michael McDonnell – as both sides will feel as if they have a real chance ahead of next week’s second leg in the Midlands.

In the playoffs for the first time in their brief League of Ireland history – Cabinteely made eight changes from their most recent league win over Wexford at Ferrycarrig Park, with Rob Manley returning to the starting XI for the Green and Whites.

Longford on the other hand, who were in the First Division Playoffs for the first time since 2013 made three alterations themselves from their win away to Cobh Ramblers – as Sam Verdon made his return to the fold after missing out on the win over the Rams.

Despite having a raft of key players out missing, the visitors started very well, with Adam Evans and Jack Doherty causing all sorts of issues for the hosts back four.

Dylan Grimes’ corner-kick was then just about turned away from goal, with confusion reigning supreme as certain sections of the ground believed the ball hit the back of the net, but referee Alan Carey was unmoved.

Grimes and Aaron Dobbs soon saw shots just go wide – before the hosts fashioned an opening of their own, with nobody able to turn home Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters cross into the box.

Longford Town captain Dean Zambra saw his cross from the left-flank met by a header from Sam Verdon, but he could only direct the ball at the Cabinteely shot-stopper.

Arguably the chance of the half came hallway through the opening period. Dobbs was fed in by a lovely through ball by Evans, but he could only shoot straight at Stephen McGuinness with a weak enough effort.

After a slow start, Cabinteely began to fight back as the half wore on, with Keith Dalton breaking the visitor’s line for the first time – forcing Lee Steacy into a fine save with his feet as Daire Doyle’s side hung on.

Cabo continued to press, but they were unable to turn their territory into chances, with both teams going in at the break scoreless – an outcome that both would have taken at the start of the game

In a second half that took its time in coming to life, Longford fashioned the first chance of the half, with Dobbs going close – but the former Drogheda netminder was on hand to avert the danger.

However, Cabo rallied and should have really tested Steacy in the Longford goal, but they were unable to score via the head of sub Yuta Sasaki – who could not get on the end of ‘Marty’ Waters’ inch-perfect cross.

Winger Paul Fox then saw a goal ruled out for offside – as he turned home a brilliant ball from the right by Eoin Massey as the assistant waved his flag despite looking onside.

The remaining quarter of the game was a naturally tense affair, with neither side willing to push forward in fear of conceding on the counter-attack.

Former Longford Town full-back Kevin Knight was then dismissed with just under five minutes of normal time to play – with a poor tackle on McDonnell going punished by referee Carey.

However, both teams will be pleased with the result, with the second leg well and truly set up for a dramatic showdown at City Calling Stadium next week.

TEAM LINE-UPS

CABINTEELY: Stephen McGuinness; Conor Keeley, Kevin Knight, Eoin Massey, Jack Tuite; Keith Dalton (Yuta Sasaki, 65), Paul Fox (Jack Hudson, 89), Vilius Labutis (Shane Barnes, 89), Zak O’Neill, Kieran ‘Marty’ Waters; Rob Manley.

Subs not used: Daniel Blackbyrne, Luke Clucas, Karl Manahan, Peter Quinlan.

Booked: Vilius Labutis (83).

Sent off: Kevin Knight (86).

LONGFORD TOWN: Lee Steacy; Conor Kenna, Joseph Manley, Michael McDonnell; Jack Doherty, Dylan Grimes (Peter Hopkins, 72), Paul O’Conor, Sam Verdon (Aodh Dervin, 76), Dean Zambra; Aaron Dobbs, Adam Evans.

Subs not used: Sean Boyd, Karl Chambers, Aaron McCabe, Tristan Noack Hofmann, Luke Dennison.

Booked: Joseph Manley (45+1), Michael McDonnell (81), Aodh Dervin (90+2).

Sent off: None.

Referee: Alan Carey.

Pictures by Ken Keenan

MATCH REPORT: Town’s six game unbeaten run ended by Cabo

Sat Jun 9th 2018

Match Report by Tony Ghee

Longford Town’s impressive six game unbeaten league run was brought to a halt in Stradbrook last night as a goal on the half-hour mark from Kevin Knight gave Cabinteely a one-nil victory, a result that sees Longford drop down to fifth in the League table after Finn Harps won away at Galway United.

The Town came into the contest with four wins and two draws from their last six games and the momentum of those back-to-back wins over Galway and Finn Harps over the Bank Holiday weekend had propelled Neale Fenn’s charges into the play-off positions. However, this was always going to be a tricky contest as Cabinteely are very hard beaten at home. Their three home losses to Wexford, Cobh, and Galway were all one goal defeats, while they have beaten UCD, Shelbourne, and Drogheda at Stradbrook, so a draw would have been an excellent result.

The first twenty-five minutes produced very little to entertain the fans but the Town suffered a huge blow after just twelve minutes when striker Dean Byrne who had produced four assists in the wins over Galway and Harps, went off injured with a groin problem that will probably keep him out of action for several weeks.

Town forward, Dean Byrne, who will be out of action for a few games following an injury

The first real shot at goal came after twenty-six minutes when McGlade ran at the Cabo defence, turned inside his marker and let fly from the edge of the box, but his shot went wide.

Disaster struck for the visitors on the half-hour mark as Cabinteely took the lead with their first effort on goal. Dalton floated a free-kick from the left into the Town box that was misjudged by Zambra and his attempted clearance deflected the ball straight to Knight at the back post and the Cabinteely full-back fired home from close range.

The Town suddenly came alive and began to exert pressure on the Dubliners defence. On thirty-three minutes, an Elworthy throw found McGlade who cleverly lifted the ball over defender Knight, he ran onto the ball but his strike was well off target.

In the thirty-ninth minute, a sweeping Town move carved open the Cabo rearguard. McDonnell intercepted a Cabo pass and played the ball to McGlade who quickly moved the ball to Mulhall, and Mulhall set-up Verdon for a shot that went narrowly wide.

Just before the interval, Town defender O’Reilly almost equalised but his thunderous fifteen-yard goalbound shot was brilliantly blocked.

Cabinteely should have doubled their advantage just two minutes after the restart. Marty Waters superb ball put in Clucas on the left side of the Longford box, and although the angle was slightly narrow, he only had Town keeper Kelly to beat, but instead of shooting to the far bottom corner he played a harmless ball across the six-yard box that was easily cleared.

Verdon shot over on fifty-two minutes from O’Reilly’s excellent long diagonal pass, while at the other end on seventy-six minutes, clever play from Waters set-up Watson who fired a shot just inches over the Town bar.

Longford completely dominated the last twenty minutes but failed to snatch a deserved equaliser due to a combination of poor finishing, good defending, and a couple of excellent saves from McGuinness in the Cabinteely goal.

Longford almost scored a dramatic injury time equaliser. Galvin’s twenty-yard shot was well saved by McGuinness but the ball came out to Verdon at the back post and he seemed destined to rattle the net from close range only for McGuinness to somehow get across to produce a magnificent save with Mulhall’s rebound strike blocked away.

The Town finished with ten players for the third time in four games as Galvin received his marching orders deep into injury time.

Next up for Longford Town is a home tie against Drogheda next Friday night at the City Calling Stadium at 7.45pm.

TEAM LINE-UPS:

Cabinteely FC: McGuinness, Tuite, Fitzpatrick, Lotefa, Knight, Dalton, Watson, Dolan, Casey, Marty Waters, Clucas.

Substitutes: Morgan for Dolan (59 minutes), McGee and Byrne for Clucas and Casey (71 minutes).

Longford Town: Kelly, Elworthy, McDonnell, O’Reilly, Noack-Hofmann, Chambers, Hollywood, Zambra, McGlade, Byrne, Verdon.

Substitutes: Mulhall for Byrne (12 minutes), Hopkins for Chambers (56 minutes), Galvin for Hollywood (71 minutes)

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